Echoes
by soundofmadness223
Summary: A depressed Roxas enters the psychiatric ward in hopes of finding out what is wrong with him. What he doesn't expect, however, is to meet the intriguing Axel...or that he would fall for him. AU Rated M for lemons and language.
1. Chapter 1

Hey. :)

This was just one of those stories that's been nagging at me lately...

I, unfortunately, don't own Kingdom Hearts. It would be much, much different if I did.

Thanks to tenspeed457 for being my lovely beta.

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_"Roxas...Roxas! ROXAS! Wake up, do you hear me? Please, please, please, don't die..."_

"Roxas!" The sound of my mother's curt voice cut swiftly through my thoughts, causing the voice from my memory to abruptly stop. "Could you concentrate for just a few seconds?" The irritation was evident in her voice, as well as on her face. My mother's eyes always narrowed when she got irritated or angry, and now her eyes were barely slits.

"S-sorry. Just thinking..." I mumbled, although my mother had already turned back around to face the building we were standing in front of. She was ready to march inside; I, however, was not. I knew this-this _place _was going to be my home for however long they deemed it fit, which I was already informed was _at least _three months. Three freaking months of my life.

"C'mon, Rox." My twin brother, Sora, gave my hand a gentle squeeze and he smiled widely, although the smile didn't reach his eyes. The smile never went to his eyes anymore. Not since...well, not for awhile. "It'll be fine."

My mother sighed, and the irritated look on her face softened a little. "Of course it will, Roxas. The doctors said this would be good for you. Now come on, they're expecting us."

It took me a few moments and a tug from Sora before I began to follow after her. The entrance to this place was so freaking big, it was overwhelming. In fact, the whole place was huge and creepy, with a disarmingly chilling feeling that seemed to linger in the air like a rancid smell. I mean, I guess that's what psychiatric hospitals are supposed to look like, but still...

Because, yes, that's where I was going: the psych ward. For three months. Ninety days. 2,160 hours.

Not that I was counting or anything, though. Not at all.

My mother led us up the stairs and into the building, where a massive desk sat right by the entranceway. Right away, I noticed a few armed guards who stood on either side of the doorway, while others just milled around the lobby, and a frightened sort of feeling began to stir in the pit of my stomach. These people were so dangerous they needed _guns_?

She briskly walked up to the desk, all business, her high-heeled shoes clicking crisply against the marble tiled floor. "My son, Roxas, is here for his stay," she said, without any emotion at all, as though she were at one of her functions, discussing socially polite subjects like the weather.

The receptionist nodded, barely looking up from her computer. "Yes, the doctor is expecting him. Just go down this hallway, up the stairs, take a right, and it's the third door on the right."

"Thank you," my mother said, and she turned around, gesturing to Sora and me to follow her. This time, Sora took my hand, and by the look on his face, I didn't know whether it was to comfort me or himself. This time, I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and tugged him along after our mother.

It didn't take us long to follow the directions, and when we got to the large oak door, my mother gave the door three crisp knocks, immediately followed by a deep voice saying, "Come in."

My mother, ever the leader, entered first, and gestured for us to follow her again. Sora and I both did, and I shut the door firmly behind us. I really didn't care for anyone to hear what was sure to be an interesting conversation.

"Ah yes, the Strifes. Welcome. Have a seat," the doctor said. I could tell he was trying to sound warm and welcoming, but instead, it just came out sounding flat and callous. He was a big man, with a face that obviously wasn't used to showing any emotion. I had to imagine, though, that working at a place like this would do that to you. "I'm Dr. Saix. Welcome to McLean Hospital."

I just sort of nodded, and took a seat in between Sora and my mother. The doctor shuffled some papers and files around on his desk until he came to one he was obviously satisfied with, setting it on top of the others. "Ah, yes," he said again as he opened it and began to read it. "Roxas Strife. Seem to have some depression problems, do we?"

I bit my tongue to avoid saying, "Yeah, you think?," but before I could come up with a better response, my mother answered for me.

"Yes, doctor. He recently tried to commit suicide. His brother found him on the bathroom floor."

It sort of amazed me how callous my mother sounded about the situation. Poor Sora....always happy-go-lucky Sora had found me, his twin brother and best friend, on our bathroom floor, practically dead. I glanced over at him, and he was starting determinedly at the floor.

"Well, very obviously then." Dr. Saix closed the folder and leaned back in his chair, looking at us. "It's very nice, however, to see that you've both come to support Roxas. Are there any other Strifes? A father, more siblings, perhaps?"

"His father is not in the picture," my mother said, her voice somehow razor sharp and smooth all at the same time. "And they have an older brother, Cloud, who is with his father."

I noticed she hadn't bother to mention how she didn't really want Cloud, how she had _pushed _him to go live with our father even though he had wanted to stay with Sora and me, and vice versa. No, she didn't mention _that_. My mother selected her own reality most of the time, and this time was no different.

Dr. Saix just nodded and stared at me intensely for a moment. My mother looked at him expectantly, but when it was obvious he wasn't going to say anything, she said, "Well, Sora and I have better be going, Doctor, if you have nothing else. By the way..." She leaned in as though telling him a secret. "He seems to think as though he's...._homosexual_. Do you possibly think you could fix that?"

I sighed heavily, and my mother turned around to glare at me. Out of all the things that were wrong with me (and she didn't even know the half of it), she chose to concentrate on the fact that she had caught me kissing another guy to have the hospital fix. Awesome parenting skills, Mom. Just top notch.

"Well, we'll certainly talk about that," Dr. Saix said after a moment. "But just a few more things, Mrs. Strife, and you and Sora will be free to go. I just needed to ask Roxas a few more questions and get you and Sora's input."

Questions? This didn't sound good. Not at all. I had told some people in the psychiatric ward of the hospital a few more things than I should've, and I imagined the thick folder in front of the good doctor contained a good number of those things.

"Roxas, you mentioned you've been hearing voices. How long has that been happening?"

Shit.

This was most definitely something my mother didn't know, nor _needed _to know. Her eyes widened, and she said, "What? He never said anything about _voices_." Disgust laced every word.

"It's nothing, Mom," I mumbled, looking anywhere but my mother, the doctor, or Sora. "It's fine."

"Hearing voices is certainly not fine!" my mother said loudly. "Is it, Doctor?"

"Well, it's certainly something to be concerned---"

"What else didn't you tell me, Roxas?" my mother interrupted the doctor. "What else?!" Her voice was rising in both pitch and volume.

I sighed. I supposed that telling her some of the other things that had been going on in my mind would not be in my best interest. "Nothing, Mom." I tried to give the doctor a looked that conveyed 'Good-God-please-make-them-go.'

The doctor must have taken the hint because he said, "We'll discuss this further at another time, Mrs. Strife. I think it's time to get him settled in."

My mother looked like she wanted to argue, but the finality in the tone of Dr. Saix must have convinced her otherwise. "Fine. We surely will. Goodbye, Roxas, we'll see you shortly." My mother got up,and patted me awkwardly on the shoulder before exiting.

Sora got up more slowly, and I got up, too, as we enveloped each other in a hug. Sora, my lifeline... The good thing in my life when everything else went wrong. I really didn't want to let him go, but after a few moments, I pulled away to see tears in Sora's eyes.

"Don't cry, Sora. I'll be home soon," I promised. I didn't tell him this, but really, the only person I would want to get better for was him.

He nodded. "Of course you will. Just get better, okay?"

It was my turn to nod. "Yeah, sure."

"Okay, I'd better go. Bye, Roxas."

"Bye, Sora," I echoed, as he turned around once more to smile at me before he left.

I turned around to face the doctor, and suddenly felt a little awkward about the goodbye scene, but I was sure he had seen worse. In fact, by the size of the Kleenex box on his desk, I was pretty sure he saw people crying and carrying on every single day of his life.

"Okay, then. Well..." I noticed he pushed a button on his phone, probably buzzing for somebody. "I'll have a nurse come down and show you your room and roommate."

"Thanks," I said, almost as the same time the door opened to reveal a nurse.

"We'll talk tomorrow, Roxas," Dr. Saix said, as he opened another folder on his desk. "Get a good night's sleep. Mary, would you please show him to his room?"

"Of course. Come on, Roxas," Mary, the nurse, took me by the shoulder and led me out of the doctor's office.

It took a few minutes before we finally arrived at a door marked '13'. I sighed. Great. As though this whole trip wasn't unlucky enough. She pushed open the door to reveal a room with just enough space for two beds, two endtables, and two bureaus. And also, a silver-haired teen lounging on one of the beds.

"Riku, Roxas is here," the nurse said, somewhat softly as he got up. She turned to me. "This is your roommate, Riku. Riku, this is Roxas." The nurse smiled, obviously trying to diffuse the obviously awkward situation. I absentmindedly noticed she had really large teeth. And they were way too white.

"Nice to meet you," I said automatically remembering that my mother had drilled that one's social politeness--or lack thereof--defined them in society.

"You-you, too," he answered, wringing his hands as though he we were nervous. I couldn't imagine why he would be, though; I was impeding on _his _territory. I should be the one worried. Then again, I had no idea what he was in for, so his anxiety was possibly related to that.

"Okay, then. I'll let you two get acquainted. Riku, maybe show Roxas around, take him to the common room?" Mary asked with the same big-toothed smile still intact.

"Uh, sure," Riku said, even though Mary had practically edged out of the room already, shutting the door behind her.

"So much for the welcome brigade," I muttered to myself. I noticed my suitcase on the bed, and went towards it, intending to unpack.

"They're usually a lot nicer, but there was some emergency in the girls' wing. Probably Larxene having a freak-out again." Riku sat back down on his bed and studied me as I began to unpack. He had seemed to immediately relax when Mary had left. Maybe he hated authority. Or adults in general.

"Do...do freak-outs...I mean, do they happen often?" I asked.

Riku shrugged. "Now and again. Don't worry, though, the nurses and doctors are really well trained."

Yeah, I was still going to be worried. There were freaking cops with guns downstairs. To me, that was definitely cause for worry.

"Well, I'm glad I finally got a roommate." Riku broke the silence. "I was getting lonely. And you don't look too crazy."

I smiled at him. "Neither do you. And I'm not sure how good of a company I'll be."

"Well, you can carry a coherent conversation, which is more than can be said for some of the people here," Riku said, with the tiniest hints of a smile. "Lately, all I've had is Axel, and that's worse than having nobody at all."

I wondered who or what an Axel was, but I let it go. Maybe I really didn't want to know.

It didn't really take me too long to unpack; Riku and I kept up the small talk the whole time, and by the time I was done, I was feeling relatively comfortable about my new roommate. I mean, he was obviously there for a reason, but he hadn't started screaming about aliens or anything, so that was a good sign.

"So...do you want me to show you the common room? It's pretty much where everyone hangs out," Riku offered.

"Yeah, sure, thanks," I said, grateful that Riku was willing to show me around this maze.

Riku led me to an extremely large room in what seemed to be the middle of the hospital. Riku wasn't kidding when he said everyone hung out there; it seemed to be packed. We finally found a couch and an armchair for us to sit, me taking the armchair and Riku taking the couch to lie down on.

"So this is the common room?" I asked as I looked around at the various people lounging around.

"Yeah. Like I said, everyone hangs here, mostly. I...Oh, great," Riku muttered under his breath right before a sudden blur of red seemed to land on top of him. The form stayed still enough for me to recognize a guy, maybe about my age, or a little older, lying practically on top of Riku, clearly smothering him. He didn't seemed too concerned about the health of my roommate, though, as he looked in my direction.

The first thing I noticed was his hair. I mean, how could you _not _notice it? It was a shock of obnoxious red spikes; it almost appeared as though fire was erupting right from his skull. If that wasn't enough, however, to get you to notice him, I was sure the piercing, emerald green eyes or the diamond tattoos under them would.

"Afill, geroofme," Riku managed to get out, as he attempted to push the redhead off of him. I thought for a moment Riku might have somewhat of a chance; even though the one suffocating him was about four or so inches taller than him, he was extraordinarily lanky, and I was guessing they might have weighed about the same.

"Wow, fresh meat," he said, as his eyes studied me from head-to-toe. "And you are--?"

"Roxas. He's my roommate. Who, I might add, you're currently suffocating," I said, as I gestured to a still struggling Riku underneath him.

The man shrugged. "He'll be fine. So I'm Axel." Ah. So _this _was Axel. He stuck out his hand, and I awkwardly shook it. "It's so very nice to meet you."

"Thanks. But seriously, though, Riku's stopped struggling, and I think it's because he's running out of air."

Axel rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "You guys are just _no _fun at all." He got up and Riku jumped up almost immediately.

"Fuck, Axel, how many times do I have to tell you _not _to do that?" Riku asked angrily as he rubbed his shoulder where Axel had been settled. "It hurts!"

Axel just sort of collapsed on the couch, his lanky frame taking up the whole thing. He grinned sardonically at Riku, who was forced to take one of the armchairs next to mine.

"Sorry, Riku," Axel said nonchalantly, but it was obvious his attention was already elsewhere. He studied me some more, making me squirm in my seat a little.

Riku cleared his throat after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, and Axel just staring at me. "So this is Roxas' first day here, so be nice, Axel."

"Mmmhmm," Axel grumbled absentmindedly. "Sure. I'll be _real _nice. So, Roxy, what are you in here for?" Axel changed subjects so suddenly it startled me into answering.

"They say I'm depressed."

"Well, no shit. Didn't you try to off yourself?" During our discourse, Axel had pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and began to spin the key ring around his finger, over, and over, and over again, causing the keys to clang together annoyingly.

"Yeah," I admitted. "How'd you know?"

Axel shrugged. "Most people in here have tried. It's a fair bet. So how'd you do it?"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I really, really, really didn't want to talk about this, but it seemed to me that Axel was one of those people who wouldn't let anything go.

"A ton of aspirin and vodka," I answered after a moment.

Axel sighed heavily again and put his hand across his face dramatically. "How boring."

"Excuse me?" That was definitely not the answer I had expected. I guess I had expected some sort of sympathy. That's all they had been feeding me up until I had gotten into this place.

Axel suddenly stopped spinning the key ring and grinned. "Well, it is. See that kid over there?" Axel gestured with his head towards a kid curled up in a corner armchair, with slate gray hair that covered most of his face. He was calmly reading a book, as though nothing in life was wrong. "Zexion. Tried to hang himself, but he just ended up fucking with his vocal chords. And that kid?" Axel pointed to a girl who was watching T.V., with blond hair that had two pieces of hair up like antennae. "Larxene slit her wrists, and when her mom found her, there was so much blood she was practically swimming in it....and that kid..."

"Okay, okay, I get it," I interrupted. "Next time I try to off myself, I'll be more creative about it."

"Good, and be clean about it, too. No one likes cleaning up after someone offs themselves," Axel said sort of matter-of-factly. "Anyway, what other diagnosis did they give you? They _always _have to give you a disorder."

I shrugged. "I don't know. They just said I'm depressed." Before Axel could make any sort of further comment, I asked, "What are you in for, then?"

Axel's grin lit up his entire face. God, he was gorgeous, once you got past his obnoxiousness... "I've been in and out of here since I was 13. I'm on a first-name basis with these people."

"You didn't answer my question," I pointed out. "Why are you in here? Did you try to off yourself, too?"

"All stories for another time, Blondie," Axel said. He sat up a little on the couch as he looked down the hallway towards the nurses' station."I'm due for..." He held up a finger. "Wait for it...."

Almost as if on cue, I could hear a nurse suddenly bellow from down the hallway, "AXEL! YOU'D BETTER GIVE ME THOSE KEYS BACK RIGHT NOW, OR SO HELP ME GOD!"

Axel stood up, unfolding his entire frame, and smiled at me. "Nice getting to know you, Roxy, but I have to run. Another time, then?"

Before I could answer, Axel had ambled in the opposite direction, down one of the side hallways. Not a few seconds later, a red-faced nurse appeared in front of us, clearly out of breath.

"Have you seen Axel?" she wheezed, her entire body heaving.

Both Riku and I shook our heads. "Nope," Riku answered. "Not for awhile."

She sighed exasperatedly and began to take off in the opposite direction Axel had gone, probably ensuring his freedom and safety for at least a little while.

I looked around the common room, expecting someone to be disturbed by the sudden noise, but no one had even so much as looked up, causing me to wonder if this was an everyday occurrence.

"So that was Axel, huh?" I asked after a moment or two of silence between Riku and me.

Riku nodded slowly. "Yeah, that was Axel."

"So...is he a kleptomaniac or something?" I could still hear the distant yelling of the nurse, and wondered how long it would take her to realize she wasn't even in the same wing of the hospital as him.

"Nope. He just does that for fun. He's a sociopath," Riku replied, as he reached over to one of the tables and grabbed a magazine.

"And that means...?" I prompted.

"He's got Antisocial Disorder or something like that." Riku was clearly already absorbed in his magazine, but I had to know.

"And that means...?" I repeated impatiently. "What does that mean?"

Riku shrugged. "I don't know. What you just saw, I guess."

"Gee, thanks, Riku," I said sarcastically. I was a little disappointed that the sarcasm was obviously lost on him, as he said nothing more. I leaned back in my chair and sighed. No one wanted to give up any information here; that was obvious, and it was kind of annoying, to be honest. I wanted to know what sort of lunatics I would be living with for the next three months. Although...I guess I really had no room to talk.

"So, really, though, what are you in for?" Riku asked suddenly.

"I told you, depression. The doctor said they can't make a full diagnosis yet," I answered truthfully, although I didn't add that I had been previously hearing voices and believing that everyone in a red car was out to get me....

Because, you know, that just made me sound crazy.

"Well, Axel's right, you know. They'll diagnose you soon."

I waited a moment or two before asking, "Well, what are you in for?"

"Oh, this and that," Riku answered vaguely before going back to his magazine.

I sighed again and leaned back into my chair, closing my eyes. Fair was fair, I guess. I wasn't going to give up any information, and neither was he. I was pretty sure we would probably find out about each other soon enough; it would be practically impossible to live in as small of a space as we did and _not_ know something.

I lay there for a little while, beginning to doze off to the sounds of the still yelling nurse after Axel. A sociopath, huh? That sounded pretty serious. Axel hadn't really seemed crazy; a little wild, a little narcissistic, but hey...as good looking as he was, he had a right to be. So what caused this obviously confident, gorgeous male to be locked up here for so long?

I was most definitely going to have to find out more about the redhead.

* * *

So...I hope you liked it! Like I said, it's been nagging at me, so I hope the result is good.

If you would like to, I would love it if you would review. That would be amazing.

I'm a notoriously slow updater, but I'm going to TRY REALLY, REALLY hard with this one, I swear!

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Wow. I am terribly sorry it's been _forever_ and then some since I've updated. Things just got crazy. Anyway, I was looking through my stuff and found this second chapter I'd completely forgotten about. So here you go!

Also, thanks to tenspeed457 for being an awesome beta. :)

* * *

_"Roxas, how _dare _you sully this family's name! Your actions are inexcusable. Nothing-_nothing -_gives you the right to just give up..."_

"Roxas...Roxas, wake up!"

My eyes fluttered open to find Riku standing over me, an immensely concerned look etched onto his features. I shook my head slightly so as to try and rouse myself out of my sleep-induced coma. "Sorry, Riku. What's wrong?"

"You wouldn't wake up! I almost went and got the nurse!" Riku said as he wrung his hands together anxiously. "You were, like, dead or something..." He trailed off uncomfortably, his eyes suddenly averting from mine.

"I'm sorry, Riku. I was dreaming, and I'm a really heavy sleeper," I explained, as I attempted to sit up in my chair a little more. I had never really been a heavy sleeper, nor someone who remembered their dreams until after what had happened. Now, every single time I fell asleep, I was trapped in my nightmares. As a result, I didn't sleep very much.

"It's okay. I was just worried." I could see the tension slowly begin to fade from Riku's brow and shoulders as he relaxed. "After what happened with-" Riku stopped suddenly, and then hurriedly went on. "Well, you can just never be sure."

Of course in my infinite nosiness, I wanted to ask who and what he was talking about, but I figured now, in his anxious state, it would not be a good time, and I also figured that with as much time as I was going to be spending here, there would be plenty of times for stories.

"Anyway, it's time for dinner." Riku interrupted my sudden train of thought, and it took me a second to reorient myself to the situation at hand. I knew I had just been staring blankly at Riku, and by the look on his face, I knew he was wondering if I was insane or just stupid.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Okay. Cool. I'm hungry," I said, stumbling over my words. Finally, I just gave up on speaking and smiled. "Can you show me the way?"

"Yeah, of course. Cafeteria's downstairs," Riku said, gesturing towards the large set of stairs down the hall a little. "But we have to wait for the nurses first."

I noticed that everyone seemed to be assembling by the stairs; some, just standing there patiently, staring out into space, while others seemed as though they were so tense they were ready to spring.

"They let us all eat together?" I asked Riku incredulously. I mean, they couldn't let that possibly happen, right? Crazy people, all in the same room together like that? In the common room was a little different, since it was more spread out, and not everyone was in it at the same time, but in the cafeteria, I was sure we would all be there at the same time, and it would be relatively closer quarters.

"More or less, yeah," Riku answered, obviously not seeing my concern. "Don't worry, you can sit with me. Oh, wait, there's Nurse Val now." Riku gestured to a large-boned, dark complected woman, with her hair in a severe bun, but with a large smile on her face. "I hope that there's meatloaf tonight. I love the meatloaf."

"So the food's good here?" I asked.

Riku shrugged. "Better than what I got at home."

I couldn't help but sigh. Somehow, I didn't think this was going to be anything like the food I got at home. My mother had a hired chef, who cooked any food we wanted, at any time of the night or day.

Then again, a few weeks without a chef seemed like an okay trade to a few weeks that I would be without my mother.

Dinner, I learned soon enough, was a large affair.

When Riku had said we'd be accompanied by some nurses, I figured he meant two or three, but by 6:30 sharp, a retinue of eight nurses had assembled by the stairs to lead us to the cavernous cafeteria. Four stood on the right side of the room, while four stood on the other, watching us like hawks as we got our food from up front. I could practically feel their razor sharp gazes on the back of my head as I stood in line for what seemed to be some kind of meat.

Eventually, when I got my food, I noticed the layout of room: the left side of the cafeteria was where the guys sat, while the right side, the females. I couldn't help but smile at this a little bit; we were left to our own devices in the common room, with checks every fifteen minutes, with the opposite gender, while in the cafeteria, we were watched like criminals. To me, it seemed like far more could happen in the common room than in here, especially in fifteen minutes.

I had learned over the past year or so that you could do a lot of things in fifteen minutes with another person; with my mother's watchful eye, it could never be any more than that.

Riku led me to one of the far tables. I couldn't even eat at first; I was fascinated by what I saw. Even though everyone more or less ate together according the genders, there seemed to be little cliques formed as well. I noticed a group of girls who sat in the far corner, so thin they looked as though they had never touched any food. A few extra nurses had come in, and were hovering over them, obviously encouraging them to put something in their mouths. A few tables down, a few of the guys seemed to be playing some kind of game that seemed to only exist in their minds. Even with my problems, I was feeling relatively normal right about then.

I was just about to dig into what I guessed was some kind of roast beef, when a tray suddenly slid right in front of mine, practically knocking it off the table, and the redhead from earlier slid into the seat right across from me, looking suave as could be.

"Hey, Axel," I said sort of dryly as I straightened my tray back again. "Guess they finally found you, huh?"

"They almost always do," Axel said with a dazzling smile. Riku just sort of rolled his eyes but said nothing as he continued to eat. I was sure he was probably way over Axel's antics by now.

"You must get into a lot of trouble," I concluded as I watched Axel dig into the food with an earnest I had yet to muster.

Axel shrugged. "I only really get in trouble if I leave."

"You've _left_?" I asked incredulously. "Like...escaped?"

Axel nodded as he shoveled more food into his mouth. I couldn't help but look in disgust; I guess the years of a private chef had caused me to become a picky eater.

"I always get caught, though," Axel said after a huge swallow. "It's only fun for a few days."

"That is very ill-advised," Riku said, the disapproval in his voice heavy. "They'll usually put you into seclusion or maximum security when you do that."

"What is seclusion and maximum security?" I asked.

"Exactly what they sound like, Roxy. Seclusion is where they put you in a room by yourself, with only a little window for about a week, and maximum security is two floors up, where everyone gets their own room, nurse, and guard, and they walk around with stun guns. The sort of people that are crazy forever." Axel explained it all very flippantly, as though he were explaining what the weather was like that day.

"Yeah, listen to Axel, he should know," Riku said with a small smile. "He's been in both."

"You have?" I couldn't help but feel a little bit of admiration for the redhead across from me. Apparently, he had experienced it all.

"Sure," Axel said with a shrug. I was surprised to see him push his tray away from him, the plate completely empty. "It's no big deal."

I noticed Axel eyeing my completely untouched plate of food. I pushed it towards him. "Do you want this?"

"Sure you're not going to be hungry later, Roxy?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," I answered as I watched Axel begin to devour my food, too.

"Don't worry about him," Riku said, watching Axel as well. He had some food on his fork, but he just looked at it disdainfully. "He'll eat anything in sight."

"I'm a healthy growing boy," Axel said after he swallowed hugely. "I need to eat."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He sniffed at the food on his fork before reluctantly putting it in his mouth, and then promptly spitting it up. "Ugh. How do you eat this stuff? It's more disgusting than usual tonight."

"So it's not usually this bad?" I asked hopefully. Maybe tonight was just a fluke bad night, because I was pretty sure I was going to starve here if they kept serving this sort of disgusting food to me.

"It's never great, but yeah, this is especially bad. The only really good food we get is if they take us out," Riku explained as he pushed his tray away much like I had done. I eyed Axel; I was pretty sure I was going to throw up if he ate Riku's too, but he didn't make a move towards it. Maybe this was too disgusting for even Axel.

"They take us out?"

Riku nodded. "Yeah, to some of the local restaurants. But you have to have town privileges, and that can be kind of hard to get. Have they explained to you the system yet?"

I shook my head. "No, not yet." I noticed that Axel had since pushed my tray away, too, and he was now leaning back in his chair, catching himself right before he fell. "Are you crazy or just way ADHD?" I finally asked.

Axel flashed me an absolutely gorgeous grin. It lit up his entire face, and I melted a little inside. "Nope. Just bored."

Riku just sighed irritatedly, and said, "Axel, maybe _you _would like to explain the system. Keep you busy for a minute or two."

Axel just shrugged and said, "So when you get here, you're a Level 0. That means that the spider on the wall over there has more privileges in this place than you do."

"Great," I muttered to myself. I glanced over at the spider Axel was talking about, and I had the sudden fleeting wish I was that spider; at least he probably didn't hear voices, or anything like that.

"Anyway, you move up to Level 1 after a few days or so, after you show 'significant improvement.'" Axel made the quotes marks around the phrase while slightly shaking his head. "When you get that, you get hospital privileges, which means they let you go through the whole building without someone, instead of just this floor."

"Okay, go on," I prompted.

"Then you go to Level 2 after awhile. No one's sure what gets you that level, but whatever. Anyway, with that, you get grounds privileges, which means you can go out on hospital grounds." Axel leaned back in his chair once again, balancing on a hair. It made me nervous every time he went back, but Axel seemed completely unconcerned as he continued to rock back and forth. "Then, predictably, you go to Level 3, where you get town privileges, where they can take you out for food or ice cream."

"What do you have to do to get there?" I asked, looking at both Riku and Axel.

Riku was the one to answer. "Again, you have to show improvement. What that is...no one's sure."

"Then, you get to Level 4. Theoretically, they're supposed to let you out then, but they never do," Axel finished, flashing me another smile.

"What do you mean?"

"They never let anyone out of here if they can help it," Axel said after a moment. "Believe me, you think you're only in here for a few months?" Axel let out a short laugh. "Believe me, it'll be longer. _Much _longer."

I shook my head. "No. No way. I have a life I _need _to get back to. Three months and that's it."

I didn't miss the amused expression that Riku and Axel threw each other, and the pit of my stomach tightened a little. They wouldn't keep me in here longer than three months, right? I wasn't crazy like the other people here...

"This fucking blows," I said as I folded my arms across the table and put my head into them. "I hate this."

"Look, it's no fun," Axel said after a minute. "But you have to make the best of it."

I lifted my head up only enough so that I could glare at Axel. "I'm stuck here, for three months, or according to you guys, longer, with fucking insane people, away from my brother and friends. Yeah, I'll get right on making the best of it." The amount of sarcasm I had managed to use had pleased even me.

"You have to be optimistic," Riku said sort of quietly. "Without it, you'll just sort of give up."

I sighed and lifted up my head. "Fine. How do I be optimistic about this?"

"You could smile," Axel suggested, his brilliant grin lighting up his face. "See, it helps. I feel better."

I rolled my eyes. "Again, I'm stuck in a mental health hospital for three months, away from my brother and friends. I really don't have a lot to smile about right about now."

"Just _try _it, Roxy," Axel said lightly. "What have you got to lose?"

I let out a deep sigh, and attempted to arrange my face into a smile. After a few seconds, I knew I was failing dismally.

"You can do better than that, Roxy," Axel said critically. His smile widened a bit. "Let's see if I can make you smile." He studied me for a second before saying, "How about this, Roxy? I think you are the cutest, sexiest, most gorgeous individual that's ever walked these halls."

Immediately, I could feel my face flush. "That just embarrassed me."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Hard crowd. Okay..." He looked towards Riku, whose attention had drifted to the group of people at the next table. He gave me a devilish grin, and then got up and went behind Riku, wrapping his arms around him and giving him a large kiss on the cheek. Immediately, Riku started to struggle from Axel's hold, and he looked about ready to retch.

I couldn't help it; I smiled a bit. Axel was so insanely crazy and cute, it was hard not to.

When Axel noticed, he let Riku go, and walked over to me as though nothing had happened, even though Riku was still dry heaving. "There you go, sunshine. Was that so hard?" Axel gave me one of his brilliant smiles again, and I couldn't help but widen my smile. "See, the more you do it, the easier it gets."

Before I could come up with some witty remark, the sound of a large bell clanged throughout the entire hall, making me jump a little, as everyone around me got up, grabbing their trays.

"So I guess dinner is over?" I asked.

"Yes, sir," Axel said, grabbing both mine and his trays as he unfolded his long frame from the chair. "Now we go back to the grindstone, sunshine."

"Sunshine?" I repeated as I followed Axel and Riku out of the hall. "What happened to Roxy? Both are completely annoying, by the way, but..."

"It's the smile,"Axel explained. "You've got a bright, beautiful smile..." Axel's explanation was interrupted by the sound of a nurse loudly yelling his name from down the hall. Even though it was inevitably because he was in trouble, Axel's eyes brightened. "I have to go, sunshine, but I'll talk to you later, alright?" He suddenly took off from the opposite direction of the nurse, and I could hear her enraged bellow echo throughout the hallway.

By now, Riku and I had made it to our room, but I didn't go in until I saw Axel safely disappear down the stairs and away from the nurse's wrath.

Later that night, as I settled into the most uncomfortable bed I had ever slept in, I heard the distant bellow of "AXEL!" echoing downstairs, and I couldn't help but smile to myself.

It seemed to me it wasn't too difficult at all to smile when Axel was involved...

* * *

So I hope you liked it! :) If you would, please review!

Also, a note from tenspeed457, my beta: she's been bugging me FOREVER to do this, so it's completely my fault I haven't. I'm sorry...I'm a really slow updater. BUT I'M TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT IT'S NOT HER FAULT. There.

Also, the level thing comes from personal experience. In fact, much of this does. Just sayin'. :)


	3. Chapter 3

I'm sorry. I'm a horrible updater. I have no other excuse than pure and unadulterated laziness.

Thank you to all those who reviewed, though. You're awesome. :)

The usual: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. If I did, you know that it'd be as it was meant to be: AkuRoku all the way.

* * *

_His blood pressure is dropping fast. We're losing him. Roxas, if you can hear me, open your eyes..._

"WAKE-UP CALL!"

Between that obnoxious bellow and a nurse throwing open the curtains and flooding the room with light, I was more than a little irritated the following morning, which, of course, marked my first full day at McLean Hospital. Although it had woken me up from my dream, I was accustomed to usually being woken up by Sora, a sweet smile on his face. This wake-up call was more akin to the rare ones my mother doled out when Sora was for some reason unable to do so.

I glanced at the clock (not a digital one, of course, since I might strangle myself with the cord) and adjusted my eyes to the blinding light pouring from my window to read that it was seven in the morning. The slow ticking of the clock instantly irritated me; it seemed to be mocking me: tick, tock, your life is draining away as you sit in this hospital, tick, tock...

I finally managed to sit up to find Riku was already awake, gathering clothes from the closet. He already had a towel sitting on his bed, so I had to figure that he was going to the showers. I sniffed tentatively at myself; I had sweated through the whole night and definitely smelled more than a little rank. The putrid smell emanating from my body decided for me that I should probably also go for a shower.

"Good morning!" Riku said cheerfully when he looked over to find that I was awake.

"Morning," I mumbled, although it came out more as an incoherent grunt. I gestured over to the towel. "Are you going to the showers?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Do you want me to show you where it is?"

"That'd be great," I answered. I managed to uncoil myself from my disgusting, damp-with-sweat sheets and went over to the closet, grabbing a towel and some clothes to change into. Although this was not my favorite time of the day, my shower most often was; I enjoyed leisure time to just soak under a hot spray, attempting to cleanse me of all my problems. However, I was fairly certain it was going to take a lot more hot water than the hot water tanks held to get rid of the problem of McLean. The prospect of a nice shower, however, brightened my mood considerably.

"It's down there," Riku said as he shut the door behind both of us. He pointed to the double doors at the very end of the hallway.

"There's no line," I said happily. Riku glanced over at me with a strange look but said nothing as we made our way to the the double doors. When we got there, I could see the doors were the kind of swinging doors that some kitchens have , and it had a big sign that said 'MALE' on it.

Riku swung one of them open for me, and immediately, I was enveloped in a large billow of steam that grew bigger when the door swung shut behind us, blowing some of the steam back in. It took me a moment to get my bearings, but once I did, the good feelings I had gotten earlier from the idea of a show faded into anger and annoyance.

I had pictured a large room with nice little shower stalls, a neat row of sinks and mirrors on the opposite wall. Instead, what I got was a large room with shower heads every so often, and everyone just stood under one, with no sort of barrier between them. There were some mirrors on the far wall, but they were so steamed up it would be impossible to see anything in them at all.

"It's a...communal shower," I said, the horror and disgust evident in my voice.

"Yeah, what'd you think?" Riku asked, tossing me an incredulous glance. "It's no big deal. Didn't you have to do it in gym class?"

I didn't feel like mentioning that I hadn't had to deal with that; I had always made up some excuse to get out of gym. It was always after lunch, so for the last few years, it had given me an opportunity to get out of school for lunch and have an extra hour to do...well, often, less than upstanding things.

"Not really," I said quietly.

"It's okay. Look, there's a few in the back." Riku pointed to the back of the room to a few empty spots. All I could think was that it was lucky that we got to be in the back. Riku led the way with me trailing behind, determinedly staring at the floor. Finally, after what felt like the longest twelve foot walk of my life, we reached the spots. Riku immediately started to strip, and once again, I glued my eyes elsewhere. This was just too awkward.

There were hooks on the other side of the shower heads, so I assumed that's where we were supposed to hang our stuff. I quickly stripped and hung my clothes up. I reached up and turned on the faucet, immediately getting a blast of hot water in my face.

"Well, at least the water's warm," I said to no one in particular, but Riku answered, "Yeah, hurry though, it'll be gone soon."

I tried to get through this as quickly as possible, the dreams of my leisurely shower now long in the past. There were two soap dispensers that held what I guessed was soap and shampoo, but the consistency was so alike, it was impossible to tell which was which, so I just mixed the two together in an attempt to get somewhat clean.

I was getting at least a little more comfortable with the idea when the door swung open to reveal a large male nurse with squinty eyes. "Shower checks!" he yelled as he proceeded to start down the center of the room.

"What?" I asked hurriedly to Riku, still attempting to not look at him.

"Yeah, they have to make sure we're not doing anything we're not supposed to. Believe me, a lot can go down in the showers." Riku's eyes held a knowing look, and once again, I had to wonder what on Earth had happened to him.

My reverie was cut off, however, by the presence of the male nurse almost directly behind me. I attempted to cover myself, and when he saw this, he leered.

"Don't worry, darling. Whatever you've got, I've seen a million of." With that little gem, he spun on his heels and hurried out, his job obviously done.

"Don't we get _any_ privacy?" I asked Riku as soon as the doors swung shut.

"Nope," was Riku's answer. "Not even in the bathrooms; they'll check on you in there, too."

A feeling of dread settled in the pit of my stomach. I was a very modest person, and it had taken the fact that I smelled like a pig to get me into this communal shower. I never undressed in front of anyone, save Sora, and I had never really intended to. I felt like there was some things that were meant to be private, and going to the bathroom, undressing, and taking a shower were some of them.

I decided that, for the present, I could do nothing, so I continued with my shower. I was just about to rinse off when I heard the doors swing open and then shut and then someone slosh towards Riku and I. For a second, I was afraid it was the male nurse again, but there wasn't the sound of tennis shoes on linoleum; it was definitely the slap of bare feet. I sighed in an irritated manner. This was a classic example of a massive pet peeve of mine: when you sit in a row in class, and there's twenty empty seats around you, but a person just _has_ to come and sit right next to you. In this case, a lot of the room had emptied out after the male nurse had left, leaving a lot of vacant shower heads, but this person had to come and pick the shower head directly next to me. As usual, I kept my gaze glued to either the floor of the shower or the wall, breaking it only when I heard the voice of said cause of my annoyance.

"Hey, sunshine, how are you doing this morning?"

I couldn't help it; I glanced up to see Axel next to me. I had to literally force my gaze from not sweeping up and down his body. I stared at his eyes, and tried to give him the best sneer I could.

"Just awesome. How about you?"

"A lot better now," Axel said coyly, and I was shocked when he didn't hide that his gaze definitely inspected me from head to toe. I couldn't help but blush, which by the smirk on Axel's face, he noticed. "So not one for communal showers?"

"No, no way. It's a weird premise." I was shocked to see that Axel had already washed and was subsequently done rinsing his long locks. He looked so different with his hair just plastered to his head.

"It's not so bad," he said after a moment of silence. "You'll get used to it. I know I will." Axel gave me a lecherous wink, and my blush just deepened.

"I don't think so." I shut off the water, and Axel did the same. "Did you even take a shower?"

"I've learned to take quick ones," Axel answered. He reached over for his towel, but not before shaking out his hair like a wet dog, almost completely soaking me. I, too, shook in annoyance, and I was glad to see he had put a towel around his waist, and I did the same.

I felt safe taking in a little more of Axel this time, and I let my gaze roam free for a moment. I almost instantly regretted it; I had always pictured that Axel would be one of those thin people who had no meat on their bones, but that wasn't Axel at all. He was thin, yes, but there was some definite muscle tone to his lithe body, and the way the water droplets were dripping off from his hair down his chest made me want to lick them off in ways I definitely shouldn't have been thinking about.

"Take a picture, sunshine, it lasts longer," Axel said dryly after a moment.

I yanked my gaze up. I definitely hadn't realized that I had been staring at him for as long as I had been. Of course, even just looking at his face was causing me problems: the way his hair was plastered to his head made it so that his hair wasn't something to notice really; you were forced to notice the delicate, high cheekbones of his face, his straight, aristocratic nose...those gorgeous green eyes...

"S-sorry," I mumbled, my face flushing instantly.

"It's okay, I don't mind be admired," Axel said with a large cheesy grin.

"I wasn't admiring you, you arrogant bastard," I said irritably as I began to get dressed with my towel still on. It was a difficult task, but one that was necessary with Axel standing right there. "I was just lost in thought."

"Lost in thought of me, sunshine? Geez, I'm flattered."

"Whatever." I pulled on the rest of my clothes with some mild difficulty. "Are you just going to stand there like that?"

"Mmm. Maybe. Does that bother you?" Axel cocked his head at the question as he kept that infuriating grin on his face.

"No, it doesn't," I answered as I grabbed my stuff. I turned around to find Riku standing there, patient as could be. I wondered how much he had witnessed of my staring and consequent verbal sparring with Axel

"Ready to go?" Riku asked as he gave me a small smile. "We've got Group this morning after breakfast."

"Group?" I repeated, hoping that didn't mean what I thought it meant.

"Like group therapy, sugar," Axel supplied. He was now busy combing through his hair with a comb, although it seemed to be doing no good. "You know, where we all sit in a circle and talk about our _feelings_."

I ignored him as I said, "Who do we have Group with?"

"If we're lucky, not with him." Riku gave Axel a glare before turning back to me. "Although, I think that's asking too much..."

"Well, if you ladies are done, let's not just sit in the shower room and discuss things." Axel put his arm around my shoulders, and I had the sudden urge to just lean in to him. Axel may not have looked physically strong, but I had a feeling that although he was in a psychiatric ward, he was more emotionally strong than people gave him credit for, and it seemed like a nice idea to just be able to lean on someone for once.

"Yeah, let's go," I agreed. I had almost forgotten we were in the shower room. We hurried out and passed the male nurse on the way out, making his rounds once again. I sighed in relief that we had managed to miss that.

Axel eventually left Riku and I as we made our way to breakfast. I was still blushing as we walked, and Riku must have noticed because he said, "Don't worry. Axel flirts like he breathes. He doesn't probably mean it."

I didn't say anything, but I was unsure exactly how I felt about that. One part of me was glad; obviously, he was crazy, and I couldn't get involved with a crazy person. But another part of me was a little disappointed; he was extremely attractive and obviously very...interesting, and I almost wanted to get a chance to really know him.

Like dinner the night before, breakfast was a quiet-if not disgusting-affair. It surprised me when a feeling of disappointment came over me when Axel went and sat with someone else. Even though he was annoying, he was someone _interesting_, and I had sort of looked forward to our breakfast conversation, even though the fact that he had caught me staring still made me blush on the spot.

One of the nurses came over after breakfast and handed me my schedule for my stay at McLean. It was pretty standard: Group therapy, Individual, Arts and Crafts, Music Therapy, a few seminars here and there, and free time. My individual appointment, as promised by Dr. Saix, was later in the day, but my first hurdle of the day was Group therapy.

The idea of Group therapy, like so many other things in this place, seemed extraordinarily stupid. I saw absolutely no benefit from sitting around with people I either barely knew or never met and discussing in detail my feelings. I really didn't care for people to know that I heard whispers in my head, or that I found certain colored cars borderline terrifying. Yes, everyone at the hospital was crazy, but it seemed to me that hearing voices was its own crazy brand of insanity.

I was lucky and managed to get Group with Riku. He led me to an enormous conference room that had seats in a circle, just like I had imagined. There was only about seven seats there, so I had to figure that they led several smaller groups during the day instead of just one large one. There was already a boy there, sitting in one of the chairs, a box on the ground beside him.

Riku smiled when he saw him and said, "Hey, Demyx!" The boy called Demyx looked up and his face broke out into a great big grin. I stared at him for a second, and I wondered why on Earth such a happy looking boy was in this place. He looked extraordinarily normal, with the exception of his hair, which was in a sort of weird mullet, but otherwise, he looked almost _too _normal.

"Hey, Riku. What's up?" Demyx asked, the grin still on his face.

Riku shrugged. "Oh, you know, this and that. But, Demyx, I want to introduce you to my new roommate. Roxas, this is Demyx. Demyx, this is Roxas."

"Nice to meet you," I said, trying to plaster a friendly smile on my face.

"You, too. Hey, want to see my bottlecap collection?" The enthusiasm in Demyx's eyes was evident.

"Sure," I said after a moment. He reached down and got the box from beside him, thrusting it into my hands. I tentatively opened the lid and peeked inside. Sure enough, there was a huge collection of bottlecaps, ranging from any color, with any number of designs on them. "Wow, these are pretty cool," I said, returning the box back to its owner.

"Yeah, aren't they? Here..." Demyx rifled around inside the box until he found what he was looking for and pulled out a bottlecap. "I like this one. It's from London, when I went there. I had to dive in front of a bus to get it, but..."

Demyx's story was interrupted by the sudden presence of a certain redhead. Riku rolled his eyes, but a little fluttering occurred in my stomach. At least this little therapy session would be interesting now.

"Got any new ones, Dem?" Axel asked as he swung into a chair next to him. His hair was back to its crazy spikes, so I had to figure his hair just dried like that naturally. "Because I got some to show you." Axel reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic baggie just full of them. Even though I could see right away, just from glancing into his box, that some were doubles, I could see the absolute excitement in Demyx's eyes.

"Thanks, Axel!" Demyx said enthusiastically. "These are awesome!"

"Well, what do you know? Axel's not all bad," I said sarcastically.

Axel looked up from Demyx's inspection and grinned. "Just don't spread it around. Wouldn't want to ruin my rep or anything."

"Okay, everyone take their seats!" a voice from the doorway ordered, saving me from thinking up a smart retort. It was a doctor I hadn't seen before, a woman, and she was shepherding in a few kids in front of her, who looked about as enthused as I felt. I hurriedly took a seat next to Axel, and Riku took the one next to me. I recognized both the kids that came in with the doctor-one of them was the Larxene girl and the one with the slate-gray hair was Zexion. Demyx glanced up, and when Zexion sat next to him, he blushed a deep crimson. I glanced at Riku and he shrugged.

"Good morning," the doctor said as she sat down with her clipboard. She had cat-eyed glasses she wore perched low on her nose, so that when she looked at someone, she had to tilt her head to look above the frames. It created a sort of odd effect.

I leaned over to Axel. "What's this doctor's name?" I whispered.

"Well, the difference between her real name and what we call her is quite large, and most of which I can't repeat in good company," Axel whispered back. I couldn't help but smile, and Axel smiled back.

"So we have a new patient here with us today," the doctor said, peering at me above her glasses. "So we'll all make introductions and say why we're all here. Roxas, why don't you start?"

My stomach dropped. I hated this sort of thing, and I, under no circumstances, wanted to say why I was here. Besides, I hadn't heard the voices in awhile...I had been doing a little better since being away from home.

"Well, I'm Roxas. And, um...well, I'm here because...I'm depressed," I finished lamely.

"No shit, sherlock. That's why we're all here," Axel said flippantly from his spot beside me. "Give us something juicy."

"Axel, language!" the doctor scolded lightly. She smiled kindly towards me. "It's okay, Roxas, that's good enough for now. Since you seem so keen to talk this morning, why don't you go next, Axel?"

"He already knows me," Axel said as he leaned back in his chair. He was obviously already bored with the whole affair.

"Axel, just do it," the doctor said tiredly, as though she said that phrase on a daily-if not hourly-basis.

"_Fine,_" Axel said dramatically as he leaned up from his chair. "I'm Axel. I'm here because I murdered my parents and buried them in our backyard." Axel went back to leaning in his chair and I looked around the circle, trying to see if he was curious. No one else seemed shocked, so I leaned over to Riku and asked quietly, "Is he serious?"

Riku shrugged. "He tells a different story with each new kid," Riku whispered to me. "So no one's sure. But I think he'd be in prison if that was true."

"Oh, Axel," the doctor said, shaking her head. "Fine, moving on. Demyx, you can be next."

"I'm Demyx," he said vaguely, still staring at his bottlecap collection. "I'm a hoarder, apparently. And I have OCD, or something like that."

"Thank you, Demyx. And Demyx, please, put the bottlecap collection down for now," the doctor said gently. Demyx glanced up at her and sighed, but he very carefully put the lid back on his treasure trove of bottlecaps and sat it gingerly back on the ground.

"Zexion, please."

Zexion cleared his throat and said, "I'm Zexion. I'm bipolar and tried to hang myself." His voice was all raspy, and the story that Axel had told me seemed to be true: he had messed with his vocal chords. Zexion didn't seem to concerned, though; he just flipped his hair so that it hid more of his face and crossed his arms in front of him.

"Thank you, Zexion, now please, Larxene."

Larxene had the same stance as Zexion, except she seemed way less relaxed. She looked up to give me a piercing glare and said, "I'm Larxene. You don't need to know why I'm here, because I don't want you to know."

Before the doctor could saying anything, Axel chimed in, "She's here because she's got a case of chronic bitchiness."

"Axel!" the doctor scolded again, and Axel shrugged. No one, though, seemed to be jumping to Larxene's defense. The doctor turned back to Larxene and said, "We're all friends here, Larxene. Are you sure you won't tell us just a little?"

Larxene shook her head and kept her pursed lips closed. The doctor sighed, and moved her gaze to Riku. "Riku, he knows you, obviously, but could you say a little about why you're here?"

Riku shrugged before he threw me a grin. "I'm just depressed, too, Doctor."

The doctor sighed and looked like she wanted to argue, but then thought better of it. I almost felt sorry for her sitting there, her job to counsel obviously disturbed teenagers who would rather be doing just about anything else in the world rather than _this_. But she continued on like a trooper, and my respect for her grew a little.

The therapy went exactly as Axel said: we sat around and talked about how we felt. I didn't have to say a word: Larxene kept the conversation going pretty good. I couldn't see a thing wrong with her except exactly what Axel said: she was a bitch, and she didn't like it when she didn't get her way. Demyx would chime in on a subject every once in awhile, and even Riku said something once, but everyone else stayed silent Even Axel was pretty quiet, saying something only when he felt like a witty retort or sarcastic comment was necessary.

Thankfully, the Group therapy lasted an hour, and then the doctor let us go. I was thankful for that until I saw that almost immediately after was my individual appointment with Dr. Saix. I had been dreading that all day, especially since I knew he was going to probably bring up two major topics I hated to talk about: voices, and my family.

As we all exited the room, Axel caught up to me and Riku, as Riku was going to show me where I had to go.

"Hey, sunshine, where you headed off to?" Axel asked as he once again put his arm around my shoulders. I inadvertently shivered, and if Axel noticed, he didn't say anything.

"My appointment with Dr. Saix," I answered. Riku was now leading us down a long hallway I actually recognized, and I saw the doctor's door coming up. "I'm really not looking forward to it."

"Awww." We were now in front of the doctor's door. "Don't worry, sunshine. He doesn't bite too hard. Here, I'll give you a good luck kiss."

Before I could even process that thought, Axel leaned towards me, pressing his lips to mine. I stood there in shock for a moment, not really sure what to do. Sure, his lips felt amazing on mine, and as I expected, he was a better than average kisser, although I really probably didn't want to know how he had gained that particular talent. Before my brain could agonize over the decision any longer, my body decided for me, and I found that my lips were responding rather eagerly to his. His tongue ran along my lips, begging for entrance, and I allowed it. Our tongues were soon entangled in a battle for dominance that I was certain would never be decided.

The opening of the door interrupted the kiss. I was startled to find that my hands were all twisted in Axel's red locks, and that our kiss had definitely gone on for more than a second or two. I immediately untangled myself from Axel, shocked that I had just kissed someone I barely knew-not only kissed him, but played some serious tonsil hockey with him, for lack of a better term. I would be the first to admit that I wasn't exactly celibate, but I at least know someone's _last name_ before indiscriminately kissing them.

"Axel, Roxas, Riku," Dr. Saix greeted us. "I see you've already made some...friends, Roxas."

"I was just giving him a good luck kiss, Dr. Saix," Axel said, a Cheshire Cat grin plastered on his face.

"Yeah, because that's how I give people a good luck kiss," Riku muttered, and Axel put his hand over Riku's mouth.

"Okay, well, we'll let you two get to it!" Axel said as he began to drag Riku away, who was protesting madly by flailing his arms. "Bye, sunshine, good luck!"

"Bye," I echoed weakly. I turned around to see the look of disapproval stamped all over Dr. Saix's face. I knew that it was wrong to kiss Axel. I knew it was wrong to even so much as _like _Axel, but I couldn't help it.

This redhead was most definitely going to be a problem.

* * *

Please, review if you could. It'd make my day. Seriously.

I'm a terrible person. Here I have finals in about two weeks and I'm writing fanfic instead. Oh, well.

So Demyx is partially based on Alex (tenspeed457) and me. She's definitely a hoarder, but a cool hoarder. She has this awesomely amazing bottlecap collection, identical to the one Demyx has. I'm the OCD part although you haven't seen that yet. These characters in here are based off of people I've met, both in the outside world, and a few from inside my stay in the psych ward. :)

All the Group Therapy stuff, it's all true, I swear. Whenever a new kid joined, you had to say why you were there. The first few made me sort of embarrassed to say, but after awhile, it was no big deal.

"Hi, my name is *insert name here*"

"Hi, *name here*"

"I'm here because I have OCD/bipolar disorder/schizophrenia/major depression/borderline personality/some other mental disorder. I'm here because I want help."

Or something like that.

I promise some actual time will progress in the next chapter. I just had to lay some groundwork before things got going. :) I may attempt to write a lemon in the future, although I only did one and it was definitely rough, at best. But hey, practice makes perfect, right?

*Many thanks to tenspeed457, who got me to write this chapter, since we were sort of simultaneously working on fics: me, on this one, and her on her awesome Gorillaz one.*


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